Priortale
by Xamrucs
Summary: A story centered around the previous Fallen Humans prior to the events of Undertale, along with the beginnings of other beloved characters.
1. Falling Down

The royal silhouette stood at the edge of the seemingly endless hall; his form lit only by the periodic pulses of the room around him. The king looked up as he had so many times before, the small light just visible through the barrier that he cannot pass. For what felt like years, he stood at this spot to remind himself of what he had felt that terrible day, to reaffirm to himself what he had to do, to wage war on humanity.

Now though, after recent events, all those reasons seem hollow to him. He can't feel that rage he felt that day, or even remember what started that fire in him. Where before he way forward felt like Justice, now it feels forced. Now that he has started, there's only one path forward or she will have died for nothing.

Asgore sighed, coming here now felt more habit than help; but until another human fell, what more was there to do? He turned to leave, perhaps visit the lab and see the Royal Scientist and ask about that project in the works to distract himself...Asgore paused, there was someone there. His eyes still adjusting, he was unable to tell who.

"Ah, hello there!" Asgore greeted in his deep voice "Forgive me, I did not hear you enter-" He stopped, he could hear the entity sobbing. "Are you crying?" Asgore asked, taking a step towards the entity "What is wrong? What-" He froze, his hand outstretched. He now saw, not a Monster, but a Human. His blonde head tilted downwards, tears streaming down his nose and dripping onto an all too familiar body carried in his arms. Asgore said nothing, they both stood there across from one another for an eternity.

"...what did you do?" The Human said at last with a shaking voice, his arms trembling as he held the corpse. Asgore said nothing, feeling his heart sink inside of him. He wanted to respond, to tell him why he killed her, but guilt and shame forced him into silence. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?" The Human exploded; his hate filled eyes boring into Asgore as his face contorted with rage and grief.

**Chapter 1: Falling down**

_One day earlier_

It was an otherwise unremarkable day; birds were singing, flowers were blooming. A young man was hard at work in the kitchen, the tell tale signs of dinner being prepared surrounded the area. His blonde hair held up rather nicely against the steam of the pan and the heat of the kitchen. He hummed a small tune to himself as he tended to the various spices and vegetables. He snuck occasional glances out the window as though expecting to see something; but invariably always returned to his cooking. "She better get back here soon or she's gonna hear about it." He said with the slightest southern accent.

His kid sister was always out exploring and hiking, and he'd never been the one to discourage it. While he always debated allowing it, he knew that there was only one time in her life she'd be free to do this; who was he to deny her this one chance in life for adventure? He wondered how Mom and Dad would approve of it if they were still around.

Still though, he couldn't help but worry sometimes. His sister Brailey was practically fearless, and a little reckless. Despite that, she still was usually home in time for dinner and knew enough on how to keep safe while exploring Mt. Ebott; and there wasn't anything dangerous up there. After making the final preparations to his dinner and placing a lid on the pot, he walked over to the front door and poked his head out "Hey Brailey!" He called out "Dinner's gonna be ready soon! You nearby!?" He waited, but received no response. "Dammit all to hell kid, where are ya!?" He called out again slightly louder "So help me if you aren't back before dinner I ain't waitin for ya!" An empty threat, but a threat nonetheless. Still no response. His ears strained against the silence, listening for anything but there was nothing.

Now an unease was rising in him. She was rarely out this late, and even when she was, she was close enough to be within ear shot. "So help me kid if you make me worry about ya, you ain't goin' on that mountain again for years." He grumbled to himself, heading back inside. "C'mon Justin calm down…" He said, his sister was always a hardy kid, she knew how to take care of herself...even if she was only a small child, and there was wildlife, and potential rock slides, and maybe other adults who- "Dammit!" He growled, feeling himself getting worked up "Ha...wonder if I ever gave the folks this much worry." He said with a slight nostalgic grin. "Well, I know what dad woulda done."

Justin walked over to the oven and turned the stove off. If she wasn't going to be home, he'd go and drag her back. He walked through the cabin over to his room, reaching under the mattress he pulled a box out from underneath "hope ya don't mind me borrowing somethin' Dad, but it's important." He said, opening the box to reveal a revolver and a small ammunition box. He popped open the chamber and loaded six shots into it "better to be safe than sorry." He said to himself, placing it inside the back of his jeans. He changed into a yellow and white plaid long sleeved shirt, threw on his cowboy hat and his hiking boots and walked out the door.

Since Brailey enjoyed exploring around Mt. Ebott so much, he decided to head there first. Fortunately it wasn't too far away, but this added to Justin's anxiety. He called out for Brailey periodically, but still he was met only with silence. Walking up the trail, his fears turned from being logically explained away to acute anxiety. He began to run up the trail, the pitch in his voice rising with his growing concern for her safety. He came to a dead stop as he almost ran into a fissure in the mountain; he paused at the edge of it, peering down into the darkness while catching his breath. He looked around, the fissure wasn't that wide, but enough to where it wouldn't be out of the question to fall in. He called her name several times, however no one called him back.

"Please don't be down there…" He said to himself, looking out of the chasm though, he saw something that made his heart stop. A shoe was hanging by its lace, entangled on a branch, suspended over the edge of the chasm. He ran around to the other side and pulled up the branch in a panic; there wasn't any question, this was her shoe, it had to be. He leaned over the chasm again "Brailey! Brailey are you alright!?" He roared into the abyss in terror. As he did, the ground under him gave way and he slid down into the darkness.


	2. Here There be Monsters

**Chapter 2: Here there be Monsters**

Justin groaned, he was laying on something that felt soft, but broken. He opened his eyes slowly, his vision still blurry. He slowly sat up, his shoulder and back felt especially sore and his head was pounding; checking himself, he noticed his HP was down by 4. Not too bad of a situation considering, he blinked several times trying to clear his vision. His other senses began to catch up with him, he could hear the sound of running water and faint dripping sounds around him. With his vision clearing, he could see a collection of glowing mushrooms around him. Underneath him was tall grass as well as more of the mushrooms. They were crushed and no longer glowing, he guessed that's what broke his fall.

He tried standing up, he still felt dazed but otherwise ok. His hat was nearby, he could feel his gun still in the back of his jeans; thankfully it hadn't fired, and Brailey's shoe was still clutched in his hand. "Brailey? Are you here!?" He called out, no response. He looked up and let out a yelp of surprise, he couldn't see the sun. Whether he was too far down, it was night, or the angle didn't allow for viewing he couldn't say, but one thing was clear: he wasn't getting back out the way he came. He leaned down and grabbed his hat, putting it back on.

There wasn't anything for it, first things first, he needed to find Brailey. He pulled out his revolver and checked it, it was still loaded and looked undamaged. He just had to hope that it still worked, and that he didn't need it. Looking around, he saw there was a river, along with a path leading to a bridge crossing it. Not seeing any other alternative, he followed it. This was a strange cavern, Justin couldn't remember ever seeing a glowing mushroom before, there were also small shimmering objects on the ceiling that almost resembled stars.

Even the water itself seemed to glow, but he was sure it had to be some kind of reflection, water didn't glow...then again, neither did mushrooms. He stopped suddenly as he thought he heard a voice "Brailey!? Is that you?!" He called out, he could just barely hear a voice, he couldn't make out any words, but there was definitely a female voice. Justin broke into a frenzied sprint "Hold on Brailey! I'm coming!" He shouted, running full speed towards the voice.

He crossed another bridge, following a winding path, the voice seemed to be coming from the other side of the river, across this bend of the path. He could just barely make out words "...oi…..mie…"

"I'm coming!" He called back to the voice, turning so sharply to cross another bridge he almost slide into the water. He arrived to the spot where he swore he could hear the voice coming from. It looked like a small island floating in the river connected by two bridges, a large blue flower standing in the center. Justin looked around frantically, panting heavily from the effort and the anxiety coursing through him. There wasn't anyone there "Brailey!? Brailey! Where are you!?" He shouted.

"HoI! I'm Temmie!" A voice responded. Justin froze, after a moment, he looked around, it sounded like it came right next to him; yet no one was around.

"Hello?" Justin asked.

"HoI! I'm Temmie!" The voice came again. He blinked several times, it sounded like it was coming from the blue flower, but that couldn't be right..."HoI! I'm Temmie!" Yet he couldn't see anyone else. Justin walked over to the flower.

"Um...Hello? Can you hear me?" He asked the flower, feeling ridiculous.

"Um...Hello? Can you hear me?" The flower repeated his words, Justin yelped and lept back in surprise. His own voice was coming out of the flower, how was that possible? "Um...Hello? Can you hear me?" It repeated...Justin put aside the how and just accepted the what: this flower repeated whatever voice it heard. Acting on sudden inspiration, he approached the flower again.

"Brailey!" He said into the flower loudly "This flower records voices! If you hear this, I'm leaving a trail for you to follow!" Then he took a step back and waited.

"Brailey!" The flower repeated loudly "This flower records voices! If you hear this, I'm leaving a trail for you to follow!" Justin nodded in satisfaction. If Brailey was around and heard his voice, she could just follow this trail he was leaving...assuming no one recorded something else...who the hell was Temmie? Putting it out of his mind, and ignoring the repeated shouting of his message, Justin moved on.

Crossing the bridge that led from the island, he made his way through a small cavern corridor that opened out into a long antichamber with a single path. The entire area was surrounded by a body of water, it was significantly darker in this room but still had enough visible light to see. Justin moved along the path, feeling grateful that there weren't many forks along the trail where he would have to backtrack or waste time on dead ends.

Justin came to a halt as something was in the way on the path, it looked like...some kind of jello mold? It was difficult to say because of the lighting. He carefully tried to step over it, it suddenly started wiggling and emitted a quiet roar "wha-?" Justin started, when suddenly the mold shot up like a jack in the box and stood tall, knocking him back. It's 'head' opened up like a flower, revealing a single eye, which stared down at him. Justin felt as though time had frozen as he stared back into the eye, his whole body suddenly filled with a cold dread.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered that he was seeing a Monster for the first time in his life.

For what felt like an eternity, the two stared at one another. "A M-Monster...A real Monster…" Justin said in disbelief under his breath. He couldn't believe it, they hadn't been seen in years. The gelatin like monster let out a kind of gurgling cry and began gyrating, suddenly from the ground, several smaller versions began to rise. Justin yelped and hopped to his feet, just in time to dodge a barrage of rings they began to shoot at him.

Justin reached back and pulled out his dad's revolver and took aim at the Monster, ready to Fight. He pulled back the hammer and lined up his shot, while not perfect, he still dealt a large amount of damage to the creature. The shot rang out loudly, echoing all through the cavern, as the Monster let out a shriek.

"Get back!" Justin demanded, pulling the hammer on the revolver back again "I don't want any trouble!" Whether due to its wounds or Justin had managed to scare it he couldn't tell, but the creature withdrew back into itself and began to hop away quickly, letting out squeals of pain along the way. Justin kept the revolver pointed at it until he was no longer able to see it. After it vanished, he became aware that his hands were shaking and he lowered the revolver and sat back down. His body trembled slightly, he'd never fired that gun at anything before, even though he was defending himself, he couldn't help but feel shaken.

"Ok...ok...deep breaths…" He said, trying to regain control of his breathing and the trembling of his extremities. At least he now knew for sure it still fired...on the down side, he was down to five bullets. Who knows how many are down here? What about Brailey? What if she was attacked? She doesn't have a weapon. "Get up...c'mon man, your sister needs ya...get up…" He mumbled to himself, slowly rising. Wherever Brailey is, he needed to find her, now there was no doubt she was in danger.


End file.
